“Hollywood’s Favorite Screenplay Contest!”

The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards competition was founded in the fall of 2003. Our goal? To discover the most exciting new scripts by up-and-coming writers from across the country and around the world. And due to the success of our winning writers, the PAGE Awards contest has become one of the industry’s top sources for new screenwriting talent, both within the Hollywood community and internationally.

Each year our Judges read and evaluate all the contest submissions, searching for the best new screenplays and teleplays; and in the fall of each year we present Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prizes in each of our ten genre categories – plus our huge $25,000 Grand Prize.

Most importantly, the PAGE screenplay contest has helped launch the careers of dozens of talented screenwriters. Our winning writers have signed with top literary representatives, optioned and sold their winning scripts, secured paid writing assignments, and many now have movies and television shows in production, on the air, and in theaters.

Looking for a way to launch your screenwriting career?

We invite you to enter this year’s contest!

Read more about the PAGE Awards competition and find out how to submit your script below. And if you have any questions in the process, please check out our FAQ’s.

One of the most frustrating things about so many screenwriting contests – both for the writers and for the judges – is that scripts of different genres are in competition with each other. But how do you compare a comedy to a sci-fi script? How do you rank a family film against a thriller?

And why is it that so many screenwriting contests only award prizes to powerful dramas, while so many of Hollywood’s most successful movies are comedies, thrillers, action flicks, and family films?

In order to address this problem, the PAGE Awards competition presents prizes in ten different genre categories:

TV PILOT SCRIPTS

You may enter your script in whichever category or categories you deem appropriate. The price of the first category is included in your entry fee, and if you’d like to enter your script in more than one category, you may do so for a small additional fee.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not accept novels, short stories, stage plays, treatments, synopses, reality show concepts, or spec scripts for existing TV series. Your script must be an original screenplay or teleplay.

In just a few short months, the PAGE Judges will present 31 Awards to some of the most talented new screenwriters from across the country and around the world, including a huge $25,000 Grand Prize, plus Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prizes in ten different genre categories. All told, our winning writers will receive over $50,000 in Cash and Prizes!

Most importantly, in association with our co-sponsors InkTip, TV Writers Vault, and Roadmap Writers, we will actively publicize and promote your winning script, giving you a shot at the ultimate prize: the chance to get your screenplay produced!

OUR PRIZE PACKAGES

In the Final Round of competition, from all of the Finalists in all ten genre categories, the Judges will select our 2018 Grand Prize Winner. The winner will receive:

BRONZE PRIZE
WINNERS

If you win one of this year’s awards, a press release introducing you and your script will be sent to our list of industry contacts, including over 4,500 Hollywood agents, managers, producers, and executives. Any and all inquiries from this media blitz will be sent directly to you or your designated representative, so you will have the opportunity to communicate with these industry execs directly.

Winners will receive an InkTip Script Listing and have their logline featured in InkTip Magazine, sent to InkTip’s entire network of over 15,000 producers, agents, and managers. Companies who are InkTip members include: ABC, Anonymous Content, APA, CBS Films, HBO Films, ICM, Paradigm, Paramount Pictures, FX, Universal, WME, Echo Lake, Bad Robot, 20th Century Fox, and many more. Producers have made more than 300 films from scripts and writers discovered through InkTip.

Winners in the TV Pilot categories will receive a one-year membership and project archival at TVWritersVault.com, the TV industry database used by top production companies, studios, and network executives who are currently searching for original concepts and scripts for television.

Courtesy of Roadmap Writers, all winners will receive a private consultation with an industry executive of their choice (view options) to review their first 15 pages, as well as a 15-minute story notes call with their exec. Each winner will also receive a complimentary pitch session and four free educational interactive webinars with high caliber industry executives. Lastly, each winner will have their logline posted on a private section of the Roadmap Writers website to be reviewed by 100 executives for consideration.

It’s all designed to help you sell your screenplay!
Are you interested in entering this year’s contest? Please read our Contest Rules & Guidelines…

Before you enter the PAGE Awards competition, please review our contest rules and guidelines. Any submission that does not comply with contest rules may be disqualified.

CONTEST RULES

1. All writers of submitted material must be 18 years of age or older on the date of submission, and each writer or writing team may not have earned more than $50,000 or the foreign equivalent (jointly or individually) for work as a screenwriter and/or fictional television writer.

2. Writers who reside in countries other than the United States are welcome to enter the contest; however, all scripts must be submitted in English and entry fees must be paid in U.S. dollars. Entry in the competition is void where prohibited by law.

3. Judges, sponsors, administrators, and independent contractors who work with or for the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards or Production Arts Group are not eligible to enter the competition, nor are their spouses or other immediate family members.

4. Scripts must be the original work of the author(s) and on the date of submission must be wholly owned and controlled by the author(s). If a script has been sold, is currently under option, is being produced, or is in any other way encumbered by a third party on the date of submission, the script is not eligible for an award. If a script is optioned, sold, or produced after it has been entered, it will remain eligible for this year’s contest.

5. Only original screenplays and teleplays are eligible for awards. Novels, short stories, stage plays, treatments, synopses, reality show concepts and spec scripts for existing TV series are not eligible. Scripts that have previously won a prize in the PAGE Awards competition are also ineligible.

6. Adaptations of books, plays, or other source material written by another author are not eligible under any circumstances. A script that has been adapted from your own book, play, or other source material is eligible provided that you have retained all film and television rights to the property.

7. Submissions and entry fees must be postmarked or transmitted electronically on or before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on the Early, Regular, Late, or Last Minute Entry Deadline in order to qualify for those entry rates. Any script submitted after the Final Entry Deadline will be disqualified.

8. The contest and its administrators are not responsible for submissions or entry fees that are lost, stolen, or damaged in transit, and we cannot return scripts once they have been submitted.

9. Once a script has been entered in the competition, under no circumstances will we accept substitutions of new drafts or corrected pages. If you wish to submit a revised draft of your screenplay, you must enter it as a new submission and pay the appropriate entry fee. (PLEASE NOTE: As a special courtesy, writers who advance to the Semi-Final Round of competition will be invited to send us the latest draft of their script for the final two rounds of judging free of charge.)

10. Decisions of the Judges are final and may not be disputed. Our Judges are instructed and agree to evaluate scripts based on our standard Judging Procedure; however, the PAGE Awards contest and its administrators may not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the Judges.

SCRIPT GUIDELINES

Below are some important formatting and submission instructions. Though your script will not be disqualified if it deviates from these guidelines, in order to maximize your chances of success, we strongly recommend that you adhere to these industry standards:

Scripts should be written in standard spec screenplay or teleplay format, set in 12-point Courier font. If you’re not familiar with standard formatting, we recommend the following book as a guide: The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier.

You may also use one of the popular software programs designed to help you format your script. We recommend Final Draft.

Scripts should be standard length and pages should be numbered.

Full-Length Features: 80-120 pages

Short Film Scripts: under 30 pages

TV Drama Pilots: 50-70 pages

TV Comedy Pilots: 25-45 pages

Though your entry will not be disqualified if it is longer or shorter than these specified lengths, for your own benefit, we strongly recommend that you follow these standard guidelines.

Since our judging process is anonymous, please include only the title of your script on your title page. If you like, you may also include your WGA registration number, but this is not required. When we receive your entry we will assign your script a number, and our Judges will identify your screenplay solely by its title and script number.

Under no circumstances should you include your name or contact information anywhere within the body of your script.

Please do not include synopses, casting suggestions, letters, resumes, or photos with your submission. They will not be forwarded to the Judges.

However, if you’re submitting a TV Pilot you may include standard supplementary materials, such as lists of recurring characters and/or summaries of future episodes.

PLEASE NOTE: While it is not a requirement for entry in the PAGE Awards competition, we do recommend that you register your script before submitting it to anyone you do not personally know. You can register your script with the U.S. Copyright Office and/or with the WGA. As disinterested third parties, these services provide a dated record of your claim to authorship.

The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards competition is judged entirely by working professionals in the film and television industry, all of whom have years of experience evaluating and developing scripts for major Hollywood studios, agencies, management firms and production companies.

These are people who can truly open doors for undiscovered writers.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Judging is anonymous. When you enter the contest your script will be assigned a number, and the Judges will identify your entry by title and number only. Most importantly, through each round of competition, the Judges will be assigned scripts in genres based on their individual interests and expertise, so your screenplay will always be evaluated by people who understand and appreciate the type of material you’ve written.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS
In the Preliminary Rounds of competition, entries are evaluated by professional script readers and story analysts, all of whom have a minimum of three years’ experience working in the film and television industry. Scripts that receive a score of 60 or higher from their first Judge are read by a second Judge, and the combined scores of these two Judges determine which scripts will advance to the Quarter-Final Round.

QUARTER-FINAL ROUND
Scripts that advance to the Quarter-Final Round (the top 10% of all entries in each category) are evaluated by professional screenwriters and screenwriting consultants. The combined scores of the Judges from the Preliminary and Quarter-Final Rounds determine which scripts will advance to the Semi-Final Round.

SEMI-FINAL ROUND
Scripts that advance to the Semi-Final Round (the top 25 scripts in each category) are evaluated by Hollywood literary agents, managers, and development executives. The combined scores of the Judges from the Preliminary, Quarter-Final and Semi-Final Rounds determine which scripts will advance to the Final Round.

FINAL ROUND
Scripts that advance to the Final Round (the top 10 scripts in each category) are evaluated by a group of Hollywood producers and production executives. The combined scores of all the Judges throughout the competition determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prize Winners in each genre category, as well as the Grand Prize Winner.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Scripts are evaluated on a ten-point scale. The Judges assign scores of 1 to 10 for each of these elements:

PREMISE/CONCEPT
The idea behind the story. What the movie is about. The “hook.”

STRUCTURE
The framework of the script. Effective use of three-act (most common), odyssey, linear, or non-linear story progression.

PLOT
The actions, events, conflicts, and turning points that propel the story forward. How the story unfolds (points for originality/unpredictability).

PACING
The timing of the action, unfolding of plot elements, and pace of character development.

CHARACTERS
Personalities that are distinctive, compelling, multi-layered, and unpredictable. A protagonist and antagonist with clear and active goals.

DIALOGUE
Voices that are natural, succinct, and unique to each character. Use of language that effectively reveals character and moves the story forward.

THEME
The underlying message of the story as revealed through plot, dialogue, and visual elements.

STYLE/TONE
Overall quality of the writing. Tone that is appropriate to the material and narrative that is distinct, cinematic, and effectively conveys the mood or “feel” of the movie.

COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL
Audience appeal and box office potential.

If you’d like a better understanding of the evaluation process, several of our Judges discuss each of these elements in detail and explain how they assess scripts for the PAGE Awards and for their various companies in our groundbreaking ebook “The Insiders’ Guide to Screenwriting.”

NOTIFICATION DATES

We will post the list of scripts that advance to the next round of competition on the following dates:

QUARTER-FINALISTS: July 15

SEMI-FINALISTS: August 15

FINALISTS: September 15

WINNERS: October 15

Prize packages will be sent to the winning screenwriters within six weeks of the final announcement.

Writers often ask if they can see their contest scorecards. However, when taken out of context, the Judges’ scores are virtually meaningless. In fact, for most writers, seeing these scorecards without any explanation or clarification would only be confusing or discouraging, which would be counterproductive to our goals and yours. Therefore, we do not send out raw scores.

However, we do understand that many of you want to find out how the Judges react to your scripts, which is why we offer you the opportunity to order Judge’s Feedback in conjunction with your contest entry.

In their notes, our Judges aim to be honest, thoughtful, and constructive, and each year we receive hundreds of messages from writers telling us how much they appreciate the Judge’s helpful insights and ideas, and how much they learned from their Feedback.

ABOUT JUDGE’S FEEDBACK

If you order Feedback, once your First Round Judge reads your script, he or she will then take the extra time to write you several pages of notes discussing your script’s strengths and weaknesses.

Your Judge will explain why your script scored the way it did, tell you whether your script would receive a Recommend, Consider or Pass if you submitted it to his or her agency or production company, and also offer some suggestions as to how you might further develop your screenplay.

In addition, if you request to have more than one Judge read your script in the First Round of competition, you may choose to order Feedback from each of those Judges. Our Judges work independently and they will not see each other’s comments or exchange ideas about your script. Each Judge will evaluate your material from his or her own unique perspective. So if you request notes from more than one Judge, you can compare their different perspectives and determine which comments are useful to you and which are not.

Do the Judges point out the same problems?

That tells you something important.

Do the Judges express opposite ideas about some element of your script?

That tells you something important as well.

In writing your Feedback, our Judges’ goal is to provide you with constructive, actionable input, and to provide information and offer ideas that will be helpful to you as you continue to develop your screenplay.

Along with your Feedback, we will also send you the credentials of your Judge, so you can get a sense of who our Judges are and how their various studios, agencies, and production companies might respond to your work.

HOW TO ORDER

If you’d like to receive Judge’s Feedback on your screenplay, simply check the box provided on your entry form. The fee for this service is $89.

Your Feedback will be emailed to you once the Quarter-Finalists are announced on July 15. Or if your script advances further in competition, your Feedback will be held here in our office as long as your script is still in the running for a prize.

PLEASE NOTE: Our Judges write your notes for you on the day they read your script, and only if you have requested this service. So, if you want Judge’s Feedback, you must request it when you enter your script in the contest. Otherwise, your Judge will not write notes for you and you will not receive your contest scores.

If you’d like to enter your script in multiple categories and/or have your script reviewed by more than one Judge in the First Round of competition, you may submit your script in up to two additional categories and have up to two additional Judges read your script for $15 each.

If your screenplay crosses genres (for example, if it’s both a Comedy and a Family Film), you can ask the Judges to consider your script in more than one category. Or if your script fits only one genre, you can ask all the Judges to consider your script in the same category.

If you’d like to find out what your Judge thinks of your script and see your contest scores, you can order Judge’s Feedback along with your contest entry and your First Round Judge will take the extra time to write you several pages of thoughts and ideas about your script, along with an explanation of how your script scored and why. The fee for Judge’s Feedback is $89.

(Our Judges write Feedback for you on the day they read your script, while it’s fresh in their minds; therefore, if you want Judge’s Feedback, please understand that you must request it when you enter the contest. It cannot be added at a later time.)

Would you like to enter more than one script in this year’s contest?

Submit them all on the same entry form and you will receive a $10 discount off each additional submission. (Scripts submitted on separate entry forms will each be charged the full entry fee applicable on that submission date.)

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Since our Judges prefer to read scripts online, we ask you to upload your screenplay through our online entry form, preferably as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file. You can download Adobe Acrobat free of charge at adobe.com.

If for some reason you cannot convert your script to a .pdf file, we can also accept Final Draft, Microsoft Word, and Text files. Please make sure that the file you send us is not password protected or secured.

You may pay your entry fee with a credit card, debit card, bank transfer, or PayPal account, or with a check or money order (must be in U.S. funds).

PLEASE NOTE: All submissions are final, so when you enter, please make sure you upload the most current and correct draft of your script. In addition, since our judging process is anonymous, please include only the title of your script on your title page. Your name and contact information should not appear on your title page or anywhere within the body of your screenplay.

READY TO ENTER?

Simply click the gold button below! A new window will open and we will ask you to complete four easy steps:

1. CONTACT INFORMATION
Tell us your name and contact information. And if you co-wrote the script with another author, also tell us that writer’s name and contact information.

2. SCRIPT INFORMATION
Tell us your script’s title and logline (a brief description of your story), select your genre(s), and let us know if you’d like to receive Judge’s Feedback. If you want to enter more than one script in the contest, just click the link provided.

4. ENTRY SUMMARY
Please print a copy of this Entry Summary for your records, and if you plan to mail us your payment, also print a copy to enclose along with your check or money order. Or to pay your entry fee with a credit card, debit card, bank transfer or PayPal account, simply click the payment link provided.